Not sure how many Ducorps there are on the Avenue, but I have a couple of questions about behavior. First off, any ideas about the inverted head thing. Limoncello flips his head upside down to look at me whenever he's relaxed and I'm doing something unexpected. I thought it was just a weird thing he did as an individual and then I found this on Etsy:
Any ideas what's going on with this behavior. I've spent a good chunk of time trying to find research on wild Ducorp behavior. The seem to be very private birds, and I could find almost nothing apart from a few videos of them flying. All I got out of it is that they are noisy flyers and either have very little interest in baths... or are quite frequently ripping up and rolling around in something dirty. Unlike most of their wild Austrailian cousins, every wild Ducorp video I could find showed them smudged with mud or dirt on their wings and body.
Second, our little guy is shy. He had a terrible paranoia about cage doorways when he first arrived. He's gotten better about it if he's coming and going on his own, but he still doesn't let us pick him up in his cage and take him through the door. He will, however, step up outside his cage, especially if we're going to help him get to where he wants to go. Mostly though he prefers to get somewhere on his own steam. So independent! He will go to whichever of us is least interested in interacting with him. If I'm trying to get him to step up, he runs to husband and steps up immediately. It goes both ways. Whoever appears to want interaction is not gonna get it. It reminds me of Noodle, a Ducorp I met at a rescue. He wouldn't step up but was more than happy to let himself out and put himself away in the evening. Seems to be a D2 thing?
And he has a long memory when it comes to places. Once a location is associated with an unpleasant experience, he avoids it like the plague and if he can't avoid it, he hunkers down until the first opportunity to escape. Even changing the room around only moderately influences his opinion... Once the futon is dangerous, i.e. he got his sharp toes caught in the fabric and was "stuck" for a moment until he calmed down and worked it out, that futon is always a death trap. In contrast, Rhubarb has a memory of at most a day or so for things she dislikes. Then it's right back to exploring and figuring out if maybe some fun can be had or num nums found.
We don't really clip much at our house. Rhubarb is 100% fully flighted. Limoncello was as well, but he started getting very... pushy... with Rhubarb. She was clearly frightened of him. When he dive bombed her and grabbed at her face/wing with his feet, we decided to do a power clip. It was only the two outside feathers, which worked pretty well. He could fly but not maneuver to harass her. Well he decided to complete the trim! Chews off three more of his primary flight feathers on each side, right at the same level as the first two were cut. He's very methodical about it. Doesn't chew his other feathers or barber when the wings are intact. His wings are now set up with the same cut he had when he arrived and I wonder if he saw the job I did as "incomplete" so he decided to take care of it. He doesn't seem to like being limited to a few feet per fly, but apparently he's even less fond of an incomplete cut? I'm just so glad that he didn't have a full wing cut at any point in the past. It would be impossible to trim him without it becoming dangerous.
So there's a bit on my little Ducorp. I was wondering if anyone has had any similar experiences with Ducorps. Or other cockatoos...
Any ideas what's going on with this behavior. I've spent a good chunk of time trying to find research on wild Ducorp behavior. The seem to be very private birds, and I could find almost nothing apart from a few videos of them flying. All I got out of it is that they are noisy flyers and either have very little interest in baths... or are quite frequently ripping up and rolling around in something dirty. Unlike most of their wild Austrailian cousins, every wild Ducorp video I could find showed them smudged with mud or dirt on their wings and body.
Second, our little guy is shy. He had a terrible paranoia about cage doorways when he first arrived. He's gotten better about it if he's coming and going on his own, but he still doesn't let us pick him up in his cage and take him through the door. He will, however, step up outside his cage, especially if we're going to help him get to where he wants to go. Mostly though he prefers to get somewhere on his own steam. So independent! He will go to whichever of us is least interested in interacting with him. If I'm trying to get him to step up, he runs to husband and steps up immediately. It goes both ways. Whoever appears to want interaction is not gonna get it. It reminds me of Noodle, a Ducorp I met at a rescue. He wouldn't step up but was more than happy to let himself out and put himself away in the evening. Seems to be a D2 thing?
And he has a long memory when it comes to places. Once a location is associated with an unpleasant experience, he avoids it like the plague and if he can't avoid it, he hunkers down until the first opportunity to escape. Even changing the room around only moderately influences his opinion... Once the futon is dangerous, i.e. he got his sharp toes caught in the fabric and was "stuck" for a moment until he calmed down and worked it out, that futon is always a death trap. In contrast, Rhubarb has a memory of at most a day or so for things she dislikes. Then it's right back to exploring and figuring out if maybe some fun can be had or num nums found.
We don't really clip much at our house. Rhubarb is 100% fully flighted. Limoncello was as well, but he started getting very... pushy... with Rhubarb. She was clearly frightened of him. When he dive bombed her and grabbed at her face/wing with his feet, we decided to do a power clip. It was only the two outside feathers, which worked pretty well. He could fly but not maneuver to harass her. Well he decided to complete the trim! Chews off three more of his primary flight feathers on each side, right at the same level as the first two were cut. He's very methodical about it. Doesn't chew his other feathers or barber when the wings are intact. His wings are now set up with the same cut he had when he arrived and I wonder if he saw the job I did as "incomplete" so he decided to take care of it. He doesn't seem to like being limited to a few feet per fly, but apparently he's even less fond of an incomplete cut? I'm just so glad that he didn't have a full wing cut at any point in the past. It would be impossible to trim him without it becoming dangerous.
So there's a bit on my little Ducorp. I was wondering if anyone has had any similar experiences with Ducorps. Or other cockatoos...
so I'm not sure how helpful that is. It was almost as if she wanted to see our reactions from another perspective maybe?
Honestly, what would we do with all of our free time if our birds weren't stressing us out? 
